Auburn is planning to play its college basketball game against Houston as scheduled on Saturday even though a physical altercation between players forced the team plane to turn back around after it already left the Plains on Friday afternoon. There are a lot of conflicting reports as to what did or did not happen.
Audio from the pilot’s communication with ground control and a photo of the private jet provides greater context to the mysterious incident.
All we know for certain is that the 11-ranked Tigers were en route to Texas when multiple teammates got into a heated argument that quickly became something more serious. The episode has been described as a “fight,” a “physical altercation,” and “horseplay.”
Auburn basketball players fought on the plane.
According to Jeff Goodman, who is known to carry water, it “never became a kerfuffle” because there “was yelling and guys got in each other’s faces, but there were no actual fisticuffs.” A separate, unrelated report implied some kind of fracas and supposedly revealed the players who were involved. Two additional players were named on Saturday morning.
Sources: Auburn freshman F Jahki Howard and senior F Ja'Heim Hudson will not travel to Houston for Saturday night's game after an altercation between the players during travel on Friday.
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) November 9, 2024
More details inside.
🔗: https://t.co/vbu1KZ554T pic.twitter.com/YhTVjSDmul
A pair of team photos posted to BeReal captured the scene just moments before disaster. They provide a better understanding of the plane and how everybody was positioned in their seats.
Needless to say, it was not a large jet. The flight attendants on board and flight crew in the cockpit were made uncomfortable when multiple 6-foot+ basketball players started fighting in the back. Make sense.
Despite Goodman’s best efforts to downplay what happened on behalf of the university, the pilots’ correspondence with ground control would not allude to harmless “horseplay.” They requested an immediate return back to Auburn because a “bunch of basketball players” were “fighting.” The flight captain also asked the airport to coordinate a police presence upon arrival. Those are his words!
The audio recording from Live ATC of the Auburn basketball team flight diversion @abc3340
— Chris McCulley (@ChrisMcCulleyTV) November 9, 2024
"Is there a reason for the change? Well that's the- the fight is being contained. We've talked to the coach, and then there's a nurse on board. We've talked to them. So let's just, let's… pic.twitter.com/VC2K8ZRrLK
Planes are not diverted or grounded for “horseplay.” Police don’t get involved for “horseplay.”
The Tigers did not make it very far before the plane turned around just past Montgomery.
It is unclear as to what happened upon arrival back to airport. However, Auburn was able to secure a separate flight to Houston on late Friday night and will play its college basketball game at the Toyota Center as scheduled on late Saturday night.